New use of hyaluronic acid

According to the statistics, the total treatment cost of hyaluronic acid series dermal filler in 2006 was reached $848 million. In 2008, the global sales of pharmaceutical grade hyaluronic acid has reached $725 million - $800 million. In 2011, global sales of dermal filler was reached 15 billion dollars, of whichhyaluronic acid fillers accounted for 60% to 70% of the entire market share, sales reached $1 billion.

Hyaluronic acid, also known as "glass acid", widely present in various tissues of animal cells mesenchymal such as skin, synovial fluid, cartilage, vitreous humor and rooster comb. In 1934 researchers first isolated a highly viscous substance from bovine vitreum, and name it as "hyaluronic acid".

Since the 1960s, the first time used hyaluronic acid in eye surgery and successful, then hyaluronic acid was formally used as a clinical drug. The earliest marketed hyaluronic acid drug raw materials are extracted from rooster comb, due to low yield and other reasons it has higher prices. In 60 to 80 years, per kilogram of ophthalmic hyaluronic up to $10,000, so the market dosage is small.

Subsequently, researchers have been discovered many interesting new uses of hyaluronic acid: Except for the eye surgery, can also be used in cosmetics as a "moisturizing factor" and is used to eliminate knee pain. The latter also the medicinal uses with more market prospects. As we all know, due to age and physical aging and other reasons, osteoarthritis is common in the elderly, and supply hyaluronic acid has long been proven to be an effective medical treatment of mitigating and treating osteoarthritis, and currently the hyaluronic acid used for this application has annual sales of $236 million.

In 1993, the German physician first directly injects medicinal hyaluronic acid with special injector into bone and patients joint synovium, results showed that patients can quickly eliminate joint pain, restore the ability of walking. Since then, the United States, Japan, France, Italy and other Western countries after Germany will also use hyaluronic acid for the treatment of osteoarthritis. To date, there are around tens of millions of arthritis patients injecting hyaluronic acid to relieve joint pain, ophthalmic hyaluronic acid turned out to be a secondary purpose.

Since the mid-1990s, the international market hyaluronic sales increased year by year. It is estimated that the total global pharmaceutical hyaluronic sales was approximately $420 million to $550 million, by 2010 was more than 10 billion dollars. Denmark, the United States, Japan is the major producer of hyaluronic acid.

Although Denmark is the world's largest pharmaceutical and cosmetic use hyaluronic acid producing and exporting countries, but the United States is the world's first production of ophthalmic hyaluronic acid pharmaceutical raw materials Western country. Until today, the U.S. is still extracting pharmaceutical grade hyaluronic acid from rooster comb, and its products are also exported to Canada, Mexico and some European countries. U.S. produced pharmaceutical grade hyaluronic acid because of its high quality was received good reputation in the international market, the selling price is relatively high.

It is estimated that China annual needs of about 8 to 9 tons pharmaceutical grade hyaluronic acid, but now the actual production can only meet one third of the market demand. On price, the price of cosmetic hyaluronic acid was generally 15,000 ~ 20,000 yuan per kg, food grade is 10,000 yuan, pharmaceutical grade is 50,000 ~ 60,000yuan per kilogram. Judging from the demand and prices, hyaluronic acid prospects is worthy of promising.

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